Our history

Marie Stopes was an early pioneer of birth control who, in 1921, was instrumental in opening the UK’s first family planning clinic, which offered free services to married women.

The opening of the clinic had a huge impact on the 20th century and marked the start of a new era in which couples, for the first time, could reliably take control over their fertility.

In 1925, the clinic moved to Central London, where it remains today as Marie Stopes International’s flagship clinic – Marie Stopes House.

In 1976, Dr Tim Black and his wife Jean took the Marie Stopes’ mission of ‘children by choice’ to the rest of the world, developing an international partnership that, just 40 years later, has provided over 100 million women and men with life-changing access to family planning, sexual and reproductive health services and education.

In Australia, Marie Stopes International has been operating a network of clinics since 2000, providing caring and non-judgemental sexual and reproductive healthcare to thousands of women and men each year.